


Five Plus One - Two

by skargasm



Series: Five Plus 1 [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:35:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24529999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skargasm/pseuds/skargasm
Summary: A series of phone calls...
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Five Plus 1 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771330
Comments: 32
Kudos: 490





	Five Plus One - Two

”Stiles.”

“Yeah.”

“What the hell did you do to my Uncle?”

Yawning, Stiles stuck his Bluetooth headset in his ear, turned it on and staggered to the kitchen.

“What timezit?”

“He took me out to dinner.”’

“Derek?”

“Hell, yes, it’s Derek! What the _hell_ did you do to my uncle?”

“What time is it?” Scratching his ass, Stiles considered the contents of his fridge.

“2 a.m. He took me out to dinner and didn’t ask me a single thing about you!”

Grabbing the orange juice, Stiles took several deliberately loud gulps.

“Are you drinking out of the carton again? I’ve told you how gross that is – especially since we can tell, you know!”

“Did he take you anywhere nice?”

“He took me to his favourite restaurant. In New York. By helicopter.”

“Sounds good.” Putting the nearly empty carton back into the fridge, Stiles grabbed a Chinese take-out box.

“Don’t eat that! Yes, I can tell that you’re rummaging through your fridge and nothing in there is even remotely edible – I could smell the contents when I was there!”

A quick sniff said that the leftover sweet and sour pork was fine(ish) – shows what you know, Derek – and Stiles grabbed some chopsticks from the cutlery drawer.

“Do not get them to call me as your next of kin if you end up in the hospital with food poisoning like last time!”

Stiles took a huge mouthful and chewed it obnoxiously loud with his mouth open.

“God, you’re disgusting!”

Stiles belched.

“Thanks, Stiles – I haven’t seen Uncle Peter like this in – well, forever.”

“Night, Derek.” Taking his gastronomic feast with him, Stiles went back to bed.

* * *

> This is Stiles Stilinski. Or rather, this is my voicemail. If it was me, you probably wouldn’t get a word in edgewise. Leave a message or don’t.

“Mr Stilinski, this is Ms Reyes from Mr Hale’s office. I just rang to confirm receipt of your USB. We’ll be in touch concerning your fee.”

* * *

“Mr Stilinski, this is Erica Reyes. There seems to be only one image on the USB? Please contact me at your earliest convenience.”

* * *

_A week later_

“Stiles, this is Erica – again. What devious game are you playing? You better call me back – Talia needs those images asap and I don’t think she’s going to let me keep trying!”

* * *

“Batman – this is your Cat-woman. Just a heads-up – Talia’s gonna call you. Brace yourself!”

* * *

“Mr Stilinski?”

“Yes, this is he.”

“This is Talia Hale.”

“Hi.”

“Mr Stilinski – “

“Please, call me Stiles.”

“Mr Stilinski – I understand that there appears to be a problem. Was there something wrong with the rest of the images you took of my brother?”

“Not a damned thing.”

“Was he particularly rude to you? I know that Peter can be – _difficult_ – but as I am sure Ms Reyes informed you, we need enough images for a full magazine spread. And however – ahem – pleasing – the image is that you have provided, we normally request that the photographer turn over **all** of the photos taken.”

“Right.” Clicking through the gallery on his laptop, Stiles stopped on his favourite image that he _hadn’t_ sent them. It was of Peter seated on the barstool, head tilted to the right, hand to his chest. He looked – sexy and just a little smug. The image he had sent them was like a stock-photo, the background darkened so that the focus was sharply on Peter’s face as he stared down the lens. It was a beautiful image – would look marvellous on the back of his latest book no doubt. But it wasn’t anywhere near as good as any of the others.

“Are you still there?”

“Yep.”

“Is there a problem, Mr Stilinski? Is it the fee? Or – “

“Nope, the fee isn’t an issue. I did it as a favour to Derek so no charge.”

“Well, obviously we can’t accept that.”

“Fine, donate it to charity.”

“Mr Stilinski, are you deliberately being difficult?”

“I must admit, I have been known to be a pain in the ass, but I’m not putting in a lot of effort to be difficult, so no.”

He could hear Talia blow out a sigh of frustration.

“What will it take to get the rest of the images? Because we clearly can’t run the spread in the magazine without them – that’s why Derek called in this so-called favour.”

“You just need to get the right person to ask.”

“Oh my God, this is worse than talking to Peter!” She actually sounded human for a moment, and Stiles took advantage of the slip in her Alpha image.

“Mrs Hale – is Peter aware that you’re calling me?”

“Did something happen between you two that I need to be aware of? Because if this is some kind of personal plot – “

“Good grief, your family loves the drama, doesn’t it?” Her sharply indrawn breath gave Stiles the chance to keep talking. “No drama, no plot. Ask your brother to call me and I’ll make the arrangements with him. But only him.”

There was silence down the other end of the line and Stiles could well imagine that she was counting to ten. At least.

“Did you even ask him if he wanted to be in the spread?”

“What?”

“I said, did you ask Peter if he wanted to be in your magazine? He’s kept a pretty low profile since he moved to Beacon Hills.”

“I really don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“Just wondered – I mean, from what I understand, you told him to deal with the Alpha and the Darach, then exiled him when he did just that. I know you’re the alpha, but aren’t you meant to _ask_ your pack to do things, or do you just order them around all the time?”

“Mr Stilinski, I don’t know who the hell you think you are but do not presume to think you know anything about my family or my pack!”

“Fair enough.” The shrug was plain in his voice. “If you want the rest of the pictures, get Peter to call me. Otherwise, I’ll assume that he doesn’t want to be in your magazine and I’ll destroy them.”

“Do you have any idea who I am? How dare you – “

“Drama, drama, drama! Gotta fly – bye now.” He hung up and went back to staring at the image of Peter smirking at him from the screen of his laptop.

* * *

“This is Stiles – make it quick and make it good.”

“Well, I have been known to make it quick if I have to and I _always_ make it good!” Stiles felt the grin spread over his face as he recognised the voice at the end of the line.

“And who might this be?”

“You know damned well who this is!!”

“Nope, sorry – gonna have to give me a few clues.”

“Why on earth would you rile my sister up quite so much?”

“Because I have a problem with authority – just ask my Dad. He’s the local Sheriff by the way – or he was before he retired.”

“I know who your father is.”

“Ah, so you _did_ look into me!” Stiles leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk in front of him. “Find out anything interesting?”

“About you? Not so much. About your friends? Yes, a little. That’s quite the intriguing pack you’re part of.”

“Eh, we’re just a little assortment of odds and ends – nothing that interesting.”

“A kitsune, a banshee, a couple of betas and – a human?”

“Through and through.”

“Why did you want me to call? Why didn’t you just let Erica have the images?”

“Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice again.”

“Try again, Stiles.” He liked the sound of his name coming from Peter’s lips, although he could imagine more interesting circumstances. 

“Why do you think I wanted you to call?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not sure the purpose of it _was_ to make me call. You must have known I would find a way to get in touch, so – “

“So – “ Stiles chewed on the end of his graphic pen for a moment. “Did anyone even ask you if you wanted to be part of this article? Or did they just assume you would do it because your Alpha needed the publicity for her campaign to make werewolves palatable to the general public?” 

“Stiles – “

“It’s gotta be difficult – to just throw off the instincts to obey her.” For a few moments, Stiles wasn’t sure Peter was going to answer.

“You’re right – it can be hard not to automatically acquiesce but Talia is used to looking after the Pack.” Stiles noticed the distinction – Talia was used to looking after the pack but did she take care of her family? “And it’s not as though what she was requesting was particularly difficult.”

“If it wasn’t that difficult, why were you such an asshole to all of the other photographers? Word is, you put five different people through their paces and I happen to know at least three of them are more than competent in photographing members of the supernatural. Seems to me, you didn’t want your photo taken or maybe you just didn’t want to be in the magazine and this was your way of avoiding it.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you can be quite infuriating?”

“On numerous occasions. I’m right though, aren’t I?”

“I like my privacy. Since the – incident – I have had a lot of scrutiny that I would prefer to avoid. For some strange reason, most people mistake my arrogance for a desire to be in the public eye.”

“You know you went into the wrong career if you want privacy.”

“A reclusive author is the norm – it’s only because of my notoriety within certain circles that this article in the magazine is even an issue.” More silence but this time it was comfortable. “Were you looking out for me, Stiles? Trying to be sure I wasn’t being taken advantage of?”

Beneath the sardonic tone of voice, Stiles could hear Peter’s disbelief. He really wasn’t used to anyone looking out for him.

“Perhaps I want to be the only person taking advantage of you.”

“Dinner?”

“Thought you would never ask. And afterwards, I can legitimately ask you up to look at my etches!” Peter’s laughter rang out loud and clear as Stiles pressed end call, and he turned back to his work with a smile on his face.

* * *


End file.
